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What makes the perfect gift? It’s probably not what you think…

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we all naturally start to think about gift giving… again. We have just escaped the financial choke-hold of Christmas and we are thinking about gifts, only two months later! What a consumerist economy we are, but I digress.

As each year passes, we turn more into what we like to refer to as ‘adults’ (I don’t know about you but I still don’t feel like I’ve got it down) and I have noticed that gift giving gets more and more difficult. We’re stuck someplace between wanting to show our affection and gratitude to our partners and burdened with the thought of bringing yet another trinket into our home.

So let me ask you this, when is the last time you spent uninterrupted time with your partner? Completely and 100% uninterrupted from kids, life, work, house and thoughts? In my honest opinion, I think one of the best gifts you can give to your loved one on any special occasion or holiday is yourself. One of the ways to accomplish that is to be proactive in taking action to clear all the interruptions from both your schedule AND your mind.

Picture these two different scenarios:

Scenario #1: You’re out to dinner with your spouse or partner, you’re exchanging gifts and trying to hold a decent conversation but in the back of your mind you’re thinking about something you haven’t finished at work, the fact that there is 3 loads of laundry to do at home or maybe that you’re going to use this gift exactly 3 times before it gets lost in the pandemonium of your house. You’re both distracted and unable to fully enjoy the moment that you are spending your money and time on.

Scenario #2: You’re out to dinner with your spouse or partner. You have already surprised them with the fact that they will not need to clean the house for the next week/month/6 months etc. You’ve finished your work for the week (and maybe some into the beginning of next week because you’re such a go-getter) and you’re relieved that your wife/husband isn’t mulling over what needs to get done when they get ‘back to reality’. The night is yours! You might not be 100% worry free because let’s get real, you’re human, BUT you’re able to allow yourself to be present. You’ve created a meaningful memory untainted by the stressors of life.

Now I get that all of us aren’t the same. Some people would prefer a gift and some people would prefer a memory. Food for thought. Whether you or your spouse stays at home or works for a living, the cleaning has got to get done. So take a leap, don’t add to the trinkets, remove the burden of a dirty home and see what it does! It could turn out to be one of the best gifts you’ve ever given.